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Hull Number: DD-818

Launch Date: 08/18/1945

Commissioned Date: 04/05/1946

Voice Call Sign: Oasis (54)

Other Designations: DDE-818


Class: GEARING

GEARING Class

Data for USS Gearing (DD-710) as of 1945


Length Overall: 390’ 6"

Beam: 40’ 10"

Draft: 14’ 4"

Standard Displacement: 2,425 tons

Full Load Displacement: 3,479 tons

Fuel capacity: 4,647 barrels

Armament:

Six 5″/38 caliber guns
Two 40mm twin anti-aircraft mounts
Two 40mm quadruple anti-aircraft mounts
Two 21″ quintuple torpedo tubes

Complement:

20 Officers
325 Enlisted

Propulsion:

4 Boilers
2 General Electric Turbines: 60,000 horsepower

Highest speed on trials: 34.6 knots

Namesake: JOHN DRURY NEW

JOHN DRURY NEW

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (Published 1980)

John Dury New, born 12 August 1924 at Mobile, Ala., enlisted in the Marine Corps, 11 December 1941. As a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, he served on Guadalcanal and New Britain before sailing, 15 September 1944, for Peleliu, Palau Islands. On 25 September, during the fighting for that island, “a Japanese soldier emerged from a cave directly below an observation post and suddenly hurled a grenade into the position from which two of our men were directing mortar fire against enemy emplacements. Private First Class New instantly perceived the dire peril to other Marines and, with utter disregard for his own safety, unhesitatingly flung himself upon the grenade….” For his selfless conduct and personal valor Private First Class New was awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor.


Disposition:

Stricken 7/1/1976. To South Korea as Taejon 2/23/1977.


A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History

USS NEW DD-818

The Tin Can Sailor, January 2010

The GEARING-class destroyer NEW (DD‑818) was launched on 18 August 1945 by the Consolidated Steel Corporation and commissioned on 5 April 1946. Following shakedown and  training, she got underway for the Mediterranean that August. During the first week of September, she cruised off the coast of Greece with the carrier FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. The American ships’ mission was to support American diplomatic efforts to assure Greek citizens the right of self determination in the 1 September plebiscite naming King George II to the throne.  Their mission also was to reinforce the United States’ declared opposition to Communist and other guerilla activities, which would become the so-called Truman Doctrine.

Her next duty assignment was with Task Group 125.4, operating with British warships in the Adriatic to prevent an outbreak of hostilities between Italy and Yugoslavia over Trieste. In  February 1947, the NEW left the Mediterranean behind for the states and an overhaul. Over the next three years she engaged in training and antisubmarine warfare exercises from Key West to the Davis Straits. In 1949 and 1950, she added midshipman training cruises to her schedule.

The NEW was designated DDE‑818 on 4 March 1950 and, in September, left Norfolk for a month of NATO exercises in the Mediterranean. On her return, she resumed local operations with her squadron, which in January 1951 became CortDesRon 4. Over the next six years she was a unit of the Atlantic Fleet’s destroyer force, rotating tours in the Mediterranean with duty in the Western Atlantic. Assigned to the fleet’s antisubmarine force in April 1956, she conducted her third midshipman training cruise and, in July, became flagship of DesRon 36.

May 1958 saw the NEW beginning her eighth Mediterranean tour. During an extended deployment, she participated in Sixth Fleet operations in response to the request of Lebanon’s  President Chamoun for aid in countering a coup against his regime. One of the first ships on the scene, she patrolled the Beirut Straits in case she was needed to evacuate American nationals.

Operating again as DD-818 as of 30 June 1962, the NEW began that year on her usual schedule, which included a summer midshipmen cruise. That fall, however, she was  called on to participate in the Cuban missile crisis, leaving Norfolk on 26 October to engage in ASW screening and surface vessel surveillance with Task Group Bravo until 20 November. Upon her return home from the Caribbean, the NEW entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a FRAM Mark I conversion, during which she received the ASROC system.

The modernized NEW returned to active duty with a new squadron, DesRon 22, on 7 December 1963. With that squadron, she participated in ASW operations through most of 1964, with time out for a summer midshipmen training cruise to Europe. In March 1965, she began her regular Sixth Fleet deployment, adding patrol duties in the vital and volatile Red Sea and Persian Gulf areas to bolster units of the British Royal Navy’s forces East of Suez.

Her overseas duty took a major turn in June 1967, when she left Norfolk for WestPac to support operations in Southeast Asia. On 29 July, she arrived at Subic Bay and by 8 August, she was at Da Nang, RVN, whence she steamed north to take up duties on the Northern Search and Rescue Station as a unit of TF 77 in the Tonkin Gulf. On 29 September, she assumed her first fire support duties. Steaming off Quang Ngai, the NEW’s guns supported elements of the Second ROK Marine Brigade and the First U.S. Marine Division during operation Dragon Fire.

Following a brief R&R period, she returned to Vietnam on 19 November for further fire support missions south of the DMZ. She continued in that role until her return home in January 1968. That summer, the NEW took part in the search for the ill‑fated submarine SCORPION, after which she got underway in October for another Mid-East deployment. Because of the closure of the Suez Canal, the destroyer set a course around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. En route, she made good-will visits to Lourengo Marques, Diego Suarez, and Mombasa, and, in  1969, added Djitouti and Bombay. On arrival she began operations along the coast of the Eurasian heartland.

Routine operations carried her into 1976. That year, on 1 July, she was stricken from the navy’s list. The NEW was transferred to South Korea on 23 February 1977. There she was renamed TAEJON. She was still active in the South Korean navy in 1998.

USS NEW DD-818 Ship History

The Tin Can Sailor, January 2010

The GEARING-class destroyer NEW (DD‑818) was launched on 18 August 1945 by the Consolidated Steel Corporation and commissioned on 5 April 1946. Following shakedown and  training, she got underway for the Mediterranean that August. During the first week of September, she cruised off the coast of Greece with the carrier FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. The American ships’ mission was to support American diplomatic efforts to assure Greek citizens the right of self determination in the 1 September plebiscite naming King George II to the throne.  Their mission also was to reinforce the United States’ declared opposition to Communist and other guerilla activities, which would become the so-called Truman Doctrine.

Her next duty assignment was with Task Group 125.4, operating with British warships in the Adriatic to prevent an outbreak of hostilities between Italy and Yugoslavia over Trieste. In  February 1947, the NEW left the Mediterranean behind for the states and an overhaul. Over the next three years she engaged in training and antisubmarine warfare exercises from Key West to the Davis Straits. In 1949 and 1950, she added midshipman training cruises to her schedule.

The NEW was designated DDE‑818 on 4 March 1950 and, in September, left Norfolk for a month of NATO exercises in the Mediterranean. On her return, she resumed local operations with her squadron, which in January 1951 became CortDesRon 4. Over the next six years she was a unit of the Atlantic Fleet’s destroyer force, rotating tours in the Mediterranean with duty in the Western Atlantic. Assigned to the fleet’s antisubmarine force in April 1956, she conducted her third midshipman training cruise and, in July, became flagship of DesRon 36.

May 1958 saw the NEW beginning her eighth Mediterranean tour. During an extended deployment, she participated in Sixth Fleet operations in response to the request of Lebanon’s  President Chamoun for aid in countering a coup against his regime. One of the first ships on the scene, she patrolled the Beirut Straits in case she was needed to evacuate American nationals.

Operating again as DD-818 as of 30 June 1962, the NEW began that year on her usual schedule, which included a summer midshipmen cruise. That fall, however, she was  called on to participate in the Cuban missile crisis, leaving Norfolk on 26 October to engage in ASW screening and surface vessel surveillance with Task Group Bravo until 20 November. Upon her return home from the Caribbean, the NEW entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a FRAM Mark I conversion, during which she received the ASROC system.

The modernized NEW returned to active duty with a new squadron, DesRon 22, on 7 December 1963. With that squadron, she participated in ASW operations through most of 1964, with time out for a summer midshipmen training cruise to Europe. In March 1965, she began her regular Sixth Fleet deployment, adding patrol duties in the vital and volatile Red Sea and Persian Gulf areas to bolster units of the British Royal Navy’s forces East of Suez.

Her overseas duty took a major turn in June 1967, when she left Norfolk for WestPac to support operations in Southeast Asia. On 29 July, she arrived at Subic Bay and by 8 August, she was at Da Nang, RVN, whence she steamed north to take up duties on the Northern Search and Rescue Station as a unit of TF 77 in the Tonkin Gulf. On 29 September, she assumed her first fire support duties. Steaming off Quang Ngai, the NEW’s guns supported elements of the Second ROK Marine Brigade and the First U.S. Marine Division during operation Dragon Fire.

Following a brief R&R period, she returned to Vietnam on 19 November for further fire support missions south of the DMZ. She continued in that role until her return home in January 1968. That summer, the NEW took part in the search for the ill‑fated submarine SCORPION, after which she got underway in October for another Mid-East deployment. Because of the closure of the Suez Canal, the destroyer set a course around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. En route, she made good-will visits to Lourengo Marques, Diego Suarez, and Mombasa, and, in  1969, added Djitouti and Bombay. On arrival she began operations along the coast of the Eurasian heartland.

Routine operations carried her into 1976. That year, on 1 July, she was stricken from the navy’s list. The NEW was transferred to South Korea on 23 February 1977. There she was renamed TAEJON. She was still active in the South Korean navy in 1998.